Tagged: The Desert
Death on the Nile: George Kennedy’s Brown Striped Sport Jacket
George Kennedy as Andrew Pennington in Death on the Nile (1978)
Vitals
George Kennedy as Andrew Pennington, crooked American lawyer
Egypt, September 1937
Film: Death on the Nile
Release Date: September 29, 1978
Director: John Guillermin
Costume Designer: Anthony Powell
Background
It seems like just yesterday that George Kennedy died at age 91 rocked my corner of Twitter for how so many obituaries eulogized him as a “beefy character actor,” and yet it’s been ten years since the Oscar winner’s death on February 28, 2016.
Kennedy rose to fame after his Academy Award-winning performance in Cool Hand Luke (1967) and was a mainstay of American cinema for decades, often playing tough guys or cops in movies like the Airport and Naked Gun franchises, though the first time I first saw the actor was in John Guillerman’s lavish, star-studded 1978 adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Egyptian-set murder mystery Death on the Nile. Continue reading
Mark Frechette’s Revolutionary Rags in Zabriskie Point
Mark Frechette and Daria Halpern in Zabriskie Point (1970)
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Mark Frechette as Mark, revolutionary college dropout and forklift driver
Los Angeles to Death Valley, California, Summer 1968
Film: Zabriskie Point
Release Date: February 5, 1970
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Costume Designer: Ray Summers
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Michelangelo Antonioni refocused his existential “Antoni-ennui” lens onto the American campus counterculture for the offbeat drama Zabriskie Point, which premiered 56 years ago today on February 5, 1970, four days before its wider release. Poorly received by critics and audiences upon its release, Zabriskie Point earned a cult following in the decades to follow as newer audiences appreciate the raw style and performances, the deeply human story photographed by cinematographer Alfio Contini against the vast California desert, and a contemporary rock soundtrack featuring Pink Floyd, Jerry Garcia, The Rolling Stones, and The Youngbloods.
“Who the hell is he?” someone asks of our protagonist in the opening scene. Indeed, the moviegoing public may have wondered the same thing. After directing the likes of Alain Delon, Richard Harris, David Hemmings, Marcello Mastroianni, and Monica Vitti, Antonioni anchored Zabriskie Point with non-professional actors Mark Frechette and Daria Halprin in its leading roles. Casting director Sally Dennison discovered Frechette at a bus stop during the 20-year-old carpenter’s shouting match with a man leaning out of a window three stories above them. “He’s twenty, and he hates,” Dennison tersely explained in her recommendation to Antonioni. Continue reading
Kill Me Again: Michael Madsen’s Leather Jacket
Michael Madsen in Kill Me Again (1989)
Vitals
Michael Madsen as Vince Miller, ruthless armed robber
Nevada, Spring 1989
Film: Kill Me Again
Release Date: October 27, 1989
Director: John Dahl
Costume Designer: Terry Dresbach
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
This year has seen the loss of screen legends across generations, from Gene Hackman and Robert Redford to Val Kilmer and Michael Madsen. On the first anniversary of Madsen’s September 25, 1957 birthday, let’s look at the one film where he and Kilmer starred together—the 1989 crime thriller Kill Me Again, where both men are drawn into a dangerous web spun by Fay, a femme fatale played by Kilmer’s then-wife Joanne Whalley.
Madsen steadily grew his career as a supporting actor through the ’80s in movies like WarGames (1982) and The Natural (1984) before appearing in Kill Me Again as the murderous thief Vince Miller, who could be argued as a template for the vicious villains he would play in movies like Reservoir Dogs (1992), The Getaway (1994), and Donnie Brasco (1997). Continue reading
Sam Shepard’s Denim Western-wear in Fool for Love
Sam Shepard in Fool for Love (1985)
Vitals
Sam Shepard as Eddie, rodeo stunt rider
Mojave Desert, Spring 1985
Film: Fool for Love
Release Date: December 6, 1985
Director: Robert Altman
Wardrobe Credit: Kristine Flones
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today marks eight years since the death of 10-time Obie Award-winning actor, director, and writer Sam Shepard, who died July 17, 2017 at the age of 73.
As someone who loves movies set in motels and thinks that Shepard and Harry Dean Stanton were two of the coolest guys to have walked on this planet, I had long been intrigued by Robert Altman’s 1985 adaptation of Shepard’s own play Fool for Love, starring Shepard and Stanton opposite Kim Basinger. Continue reading
Death on the Nile: Maggie Smith in Menswear-informed Black Tie
Maggie Smith in Death on the Nile (1978)
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Maggie Smith as Miss Bowers, dependable nurse and traveling companion
Egypt, September 1937
Film: Death on the Nile
Release Date: September 29, 1978
Director: John Guillermin
Costume Designer: Anthony Powell
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today would have been the 90th birthday of prolific English actress Dame Maggie Smith, who died three months ago in September 2024. Born December 28, 1934, Smith was a two-time Academy Award winner for her performances in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) and California Suite (1978), later endearing herself to modern audiences for her roles in the Harry Potter film series and on Downton Abbey.
BAMF Style readers familiar with my appreciation for Agatha Christie novels and their screen adaptations may not be surprised to learn that I became a fan of hers following her appearances in the lavish Anthony Shaffer-penned adaptations of Death on the Nile and Evil Under the Sun, both of which starred Peter Ustinov as the fastidious Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. Continue reading
Vic Morrow’s Cowboy Cop Style in Dirty Mary Crazy Larry
Vic Morrow in Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974)
Vitals
Vic Morrow as Everett Franklin, maverick police captain
San Joaquin County, California, Fall 1973
Film: Dirty Mary Crazy Larry
Release Date: May 17, 1974
Director: John Hough
Wardrobe Master: Phyllis Garr
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The talented actor Vic Morrow died 42 years ago today during a helicopter accident on the set of John Landis’ movie The Twilight Zone that also claimed the lives of child actors Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen. Born on Valentine’s Day 1929 in the Bronx, Morrow’s acting career dates to the ’50s when he starred as Stanley Kowalski in a stage production of A Streetcar Named Desire and made his screen debut in the 1955 drama Blackboard Jungle. He later brought his real-life experience as a Navy veteran to his star-making role in the 1960s World War II series Combat!
One of my favorite of Vic Morrow’s performances is as Everett Franklin, a renegade police captain tasked with chasing Peter Fonda, Susan George, and Adam Roarke making their high-octane getaway through the walnut groves and highways of central California in Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, released 50 years ago in May 1974. Continue reading
Asteroid City: Tom Hanks’ Colorful Golf Clothes and 1954 Cadillac
Tom Hanks in Asteroid City (2023)
Vitals
Tom Hanks as Stanley Zak, retired lawyer and grandfather but not a chauffeur
The Mojave Desert, Fall 1955
Film: Asteroid City
Release Date: June 16, 2023
Director: Wes Anderson
Costume Designer: Milena Canonero
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy 68th birthday to Tom Hanks, the two-time Academy Award-winning actor born July 9, 1956. Hanks’ most recent major screen credit was the retro-futuristic Asteroid City, Wes Anderson’s sun-bleached reflection on “grief, love, and the creative process,” according to Tegenn Jeffrey for Slick.
Located near a nuclear testing site, the titular town is a fictional desert hamlet with a population of 87—at least until a group of young stargazers arrive with their parents arrive for a convention… unable to leave after an extraterrestrial sighting places them in a weeklong government quarantine.
Among these youths is the precocious Woodrow Steenbeck (Jake Ryan), accompanied by his father Augie (Jason Schwartzman) and three younger sisters. A recent widow, Augie had anticipated stopping in Asteroid City just long enough to drop Woodrow off before continuing on to deposit the three girls with their grandfather, wealthy retiree Stanley Zak (Tom Hanks), at his “beautiful house with a swimming pool” next to a golf course in Rancho Palms.
After the Steenbeck family station wagon breaks down in Asteroid City, Stanley’s resentment for his son-in-law only grows when Augie calls, asking Stanley to come pick up the girls while also revealing that he hasn’t yet told them yet about their mother’s death. Following the awkward exchange (“I’m not their chauffeur, I’m their grandfather,” Stanley reminds Augie), Stanley begrudgingly agrees to join his family in Asteroid City and gives the word to his valet:
Gas up the Cadillac.
Dennis Weaver in Duel
Dennis Weaver in Duel (1971)
Vitals
Dennis Weaver as David Mann, traveling salesman
Southern California, Summer 1971
Film: Duel
Release Date: November 13, 1971
Director: Steven Spielberg
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
I’d like to report a truck driver who’s been endangering my life.
Steven Spielberg made his directorial debut with the suspenseful “road rage” thriller Duel starring Dennis Weaver, the actor best known for his TV roles like Gunsmoke and McCloud who was born 100 years ago today on June 4, 1924. Duel was no exception as it first aired on ABC in November 1971; Spielberg would continue to distinguish himself with extraordinary TV direction for series like Columbo until he transitioned to the silver screen with The Sugarland Express (1974).
Weaver stars as David Mann, a mild-mannered and married salesman whose Plymouth Valiant is terrorized by a dilapidated Peterbilt 281 tanker truck driven by an unseen and murderous opponent antagonizing him across the desert highways, pitting this easygoing everyman as a valiant David against a gas-guzzling Goliath seeking to destroy him. Continue reading
From Pinstripes to Plaid: Travis Henderson’s Transformation in Paris, Texas
Harry Dean Stanton in Paris, Texas (1984)
Vitals
Harry Dean Stanton as Travis Henderson, wandering drifter
West Texas to Los Angeles, Fall 1983
Film: Paris, Texas
Release Date: September 19, 1984
Director: Wim Wenders
Costume Designer: Birgitta Bjerke
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Wim Wenders’ masterpiece Paris, Texas debuted during 40 years ago today on May 19, 1984 during the 37th Cannes Film Festival, where it was awarded the Palme d’Or among other accolades. The film arrived at theaters exactly four months later and would continue to garner critical acclaim including a BAFTA win for Wenders’ direction.
Co-written by Sam Shepard and L.M. Kit Carson, Paris, Texas presents a rare starring role for stalwart character actor Harry Dean Stanton—one of my personal favorites—who had been well-regarded for his performances in Cool Hand Luke (1967), Dillinger (1973), Alien (1979), Escape from New York (1981), and Christine (1983) before Shepard tapped the nearly 60-year-old actor for the leading role of the lost Travis Henderson.
Desert Fury: John Hodiak’s Suede Loafer Jacket
John Hodiak as Eddie Bendix in Desert Fury (1947)
Vitals
John Hodiak as Eddie Bendix, smooth gangster and gambler
Nevada, Spring 1947
Film: Desert Fury
Release Date: August 15, 1947
Director: Lewis Allen
Costume Designer: Edith Head
Background
John Hodiak was born 110 years ago today on April 16, 1914 in Pittsburgh. The actor’s first prominent role was in Alfred Hitchcock’s seagoing 1944 drama Lifeboat, followed by a brief but memorable career—consisting largely of war movies and westerns—before his October 1955 death of a heart attack at age 41.
One of Hodiak’s screen credits was the 1947 crime drama Desert Fury, a “color noir” among the likes of Leave Her to Heaven (1945) and Niagara (1953) that maintain the themes, style, and story elements frequently associated with traditional film noir. Continue reading
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